ORDER OP HID I A. 



FAMILY SNAKES. 



103 



The Chameleon. 



CHAM/ELEO. The Chamceleon was known to the ancients, and celebrated 

 for its Protean colours and the power of living upon air, which they 

 believed it possessed, as we find in Ovid 



" Id quoque quod ventis animal nutritur et aura, 

 Protinus assimilat tfti^it qiioscunque colores." 



Its power of living on 

 air is, of course, fabulous ; 

 and it may be often seen 

 catching flies, by darting 

 out its long tongue, which 

 is expanded at the tip, and 

 covered with a strong glu- 

 tinous secretion for that 

 purpose ; the mechanism 

 by which the tongue is 

 thrown out is similar to that which belongs to the tongue of the Wood- 

 pecker. 



It does not assume the colour of any substance near which it may be 

 placed, as supposed by the older naturalists; but its change of colour, 

 which is very frequent, has given rise to a notion, that it has no proper 

 colour of its own ; this, however, is not the case, as will be seen by ex- 

 amining the different species, each of which has its peculiar colour, to 

 which it returns in a short time after the accidental changes to which it is 

 subject. 



The animal has the power of inflating considerably every part of the 

 body, even the paws and tail so as to double its size ; this is done by gentle 

 irregular efforts, and when completely filled with air it will remain so for a 

 couple of hours ; after which it returns to its natural size, though much 

 more slowly than it dilated. 



It cannot run, but moves very slowly, resting a short time after every 

 step, as if to be sure its footing were firm. 



It is a very harmless gentle animal, living among the branches of trees, 

 where it lies in ambuscade, to catch the unwary insects which may happen 

 to come within its reach. In the winter it hides itself in the clefts of rocks, 

 under stones, &c., and becomes torpid. It lays from nine to twelve eggs 

 of an oval shape, covered with a thin membrane, similar to that which 

 covers the eggs of the Sea Tortoises and the Iguana. This genus is found 

 in its native state only in Asia and Africa. 



The Common Chamelion (C. Vulgaris) is about eighteen inches long, of 

 which the tail occupies half the length ; its general colour is an ashy brown. 

 A native of Egypt and Barbary ; and, according to Cuvier, of Spain also. 



SCINCUS SkinL This genus is easily distinguished from most others of 

 the Saurian reptiles by the elliptical or roundish scales, which are imbricated 

 like those of the Carp, except on the tails of a few species, and entirely cover 

 the body. Like the Lizards their head is covered with scaly plates, and 

 some have a row of pores upon the thighs. The head and neck run so 

 completely into each other that it is not possible to distinguish them. The 

 body varies in form in different species ; in some it is spindle-shaped, and 

 in others regularly cylindrical, more or less lengthened, so as to resemble 

 the Serpent family, and especially the Blind-worms, Anguis, with which 

 their internal structure possesses many similar characteristics. The tail 

 varies considerably, sometimes it is short, thick, and conical, at other times 

 very long, tapering, and extremely slender towards the tip. They are found 

 in the warmer climates of both the old and new world, inhabiting dry 

 and rocky places, fond of basking in the sun, and pursuing the small insects, 

 on which they feed with great avidity, especially those species which have 

 very long tails. They have lain, at least some of them, under the imputa- 

 tion of being venomous ; but as no authenticated instance has yet been 

 adduced of any injury having been sustained from them, it is not very im- 

 proper to consider this as a vulgar prejudice. 



The species are divided into two classes : 1. True Skinks, having two 

 rows of palatine teeth, and a toothlike process on the anterior edge of the 

 tympanum ; 2. Skinks, without palatine teeth (the Tiliqua of Gray). 



The Officinal Skink (Plate 4) belongs to the True Skinks : it is about six 

 or eight inches in length, of which not quite a third belongs to the tail. 

 The general colour is more or less deep ferruginous, marked with transverse 

 brown bands on the back, but becoming whitish on the under part of the 

 Imilv; after death the colour fades, and the animal then assumes die 

 yellowish-white or silvery appearance it possesses when brought to Europe. 

 It is found in Nubia, Abyssinia, Egypt, and Arabia, and is known to t he- 

 Arabs by the name El Adda. 



SEPS. This genus is very similar to the Skinks, but distinguished by 

 the long slender form of the body, in which, as well in some other respects, 

 it resembles the Blind-worms, Anguis, but separated from them by the 

 existence of limbs, and by the tympanal membrane being visible. The 

 variation in the number of the toes is very remarkable. 



The species Three-toed Seps (S. Tridactylus) varies in size according to 

 the country in which it is found : in France it does not exceed five or six 

 inches, but in Sardinia is more than twelve ; its colour is muddy or ashy 

 above, with two longitudinal coppery bands on either side ; the belly is paler. 

 It dreads the cold ; and at the approach of winter, in Sardinia, buries itself 

 about October, and does not reappear till spring. It is an old and vulgar 

 error that this animal is venomous, hence the name Seps, which was indis- 

 criminately applied by the ancients to this genus and to Chalcides. 



BIPES Biped. This genus resembles generally a snake, but on closer 

 inspection two small moveable appendages are found, one on either side of 

 the vent, in which Cuvier discovered on dissection an os femoris, fibra, and 

 fibula, with four metatarsal bones forming fingers, which, however, have no 

 phalanges. 



The Scaly-footed Biped (B. Lepidopus) has a tail twice as long as the 

 body ; it has two lines of pores near the vent ; and its feet have the ap- 

 pearance of two small oblong scaly plates. 



CHIROTES. This genus very much resembles the genera Amphisbcma 

 and Chalcides, in having the body covered with circular rows of quadran- 

 gular scales ; but it differs from the former in having feet, and from the 

 latter in only having the feet before. 



The only species is the C. Mexicanus (C. Propus of Plate 4), it is com- 

 pletely provided with a brachial apparatus ; it is about eight inches long, 

 as thick as the little finger, flesh-coloured, and marked with more than two 

 hundred demi-rings on the back, and as many on the belly, which meet 

 alternately on the sides ; tongue but little projective, terminating in two 

 horny points ; tympanum covered with skin. Native of Mexico, and feeds 

 on insects. 



ORDER IV. OPHIDIA. SERPENTS. 



OF all Reptiles the Serpent family most deserve the name : they are desti- 

 tute of feet, are of great length, and they move only by means of folds in 

 their elongated body, which they press backward against the ground. 

 From the well-known venomous qualities of some of the families of this 

 Order, a prejudice has arisen, and still exists, against all the families com- 

 posing it ; hence they are all viewed with feelings of horror and aversion. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 5. 



Family ANGUIFORMIA. 



The family Anguida, or Anguiformia, are characterised externally by im- 

 bricated scales, which cover them entirely ; they have a bony head ; their 

 teeth and tongue resemble the Seps, and they have three eyelids. They 

 are, as Cuvier observes, Seps-lizards without feet. 



Genus. Specie. 



Pseudopus Pallasii. 



Family SNAKK*. 



Snakes have neither sternum nor any vestige of shoulder; nor have 

 they a third eyelid nor a tympanum. The vertebra? are, however, articu- 

 lated by a convex surface received into a concavity of the adjoining bone ; 

 and the ribs encircle a great part of the trunk. 



Amphisbatna ----- Alba. 

 Tortrix Scytale. 



